Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed the company is always developing new hardware - even though they end up throwing some of their ideas in the bin.

Speaking in an investor call he said, "We do not think that Nintendo DS and Wii will last forever. Our internal hardware teams are always researching and working on new hardware so that we can launch them whenever we find a very interesting idea.

"You may not be able to believe this, but even when Nintendo has completed a hardware, it does not mean that we will surely launch it," he added. Apparently it takes up to three years to develop a new piece of hardware. Then an internal team decides whether they'd be better off sticking with the hardware that's already on the market. If so, they might still end up using some of the new ideas and custom chips in future products.

"[New] hardware is not needed until the time our software developers see the end in making new software with the existing hardware, or unless we have no more new market to explore and all the potential consumers have purchased our hardware," said Iwata.

"The more decisive factor is when the software developers will start demanding for new hardware as they cannot create any more software with surprise factors with the existing one. Nintendo has always been making the hardware in order to prepare for that day to come."

Speaking of existing hardware - any chance of a price cut? "I have never said that cutting the suggested retail price is not in the cards," Iwata said. However, he added, there are problems with applying price cuts on a global basis, and the effect doesn't last long anyway.

"Accordingly, if we really do enact a price cut, it must be exactly when it can maximise the business. At least for now, I have no specific ideas about the price cut at all." Apart from, 'Let's not do one,' presumably.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ni...n-new-hardware ...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said his most famous employee isn't infallible - even though he doesn't half come up with a good idea now and again.

"The games [Shigeru Miyamoto] has worked on have a high batting average to produce big hits. However, he is not God," said Iwata, speaking in an investor briefing.

"Even Miyamoto himself cannot hit the mark every time nor always predict how long it takes to complete development."

Which is why it's Iwata's job, he said, to set timeframes for the development process and work out when launch new products. Besides, Miyamoto may be known for creating Mario, Zelda, Wii Fit and all the rest, but plenty of other Nintendo designers have contributed to the success of such products.

"He is just another human being, so it is not possible that every single idea contained in these software was the sole creation of Shigeru Miyamoto," said Iwata.

"Certainly, when it comes to identifying and verbalising some of the important major findings, few people can easily succeed him. For example, few people other than Shigeru Miyamoto can declare that weighing yourself everyday must be fun for everyone.

"However, the fact that Nintendo software is always full of unique and fun ideas attest to the fact that there are many good game creators at Nintendo. Together with Shigeru Miyamoto, all of them have been making what are called Nintendo software."

So what have they been making lately? Iwata declined to say, but he's probably saving it up for E3. Roll on June...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mi...god-says-iwata ...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said his most famous employee isn't infallible - even though he doesn't half come up with a good idea now and again.

"The games [Shigeru Miyamoto] has worked on have a high batting average to produce big hits. However, he is not God," said Iwata, speaking in an investor briefing.

"Even Miyamoto himself cannot hit the mark every time nor always predict how long it takes to complete development."

Which is why it's Iwata's job, he said, to set timeframes for the development process and work out when launch new products. Besides, Miyamoto may be known for creating Mario, Zelda, Wii Fit and all the rest, but plenty of other Nintendo designers have contributed to the success of such products.

"He is just another human being, so it is not possible that every single idea contained in these software was the sole creation of Shigeru Miyamoto," said Iwata.

"Certainly, when it comes to identifying and verbalising some of the important major findings, few people can easily succeed him. For example, few people other than Shigeru Miyamoto can declare that weighing yourself everyday must be fun for everyone.

"However, the fact that Nintendo software is always full of unique and fun ideas attest to the fact that there are many good game creators at Nintendo. Together with Shigeru Miyamoto, all of them have been making what are called Nintendo software."

So what have they been making lately? Iwata declined to say, but he's probably saving it up for E3. Roll on June...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mi...god-says-iwata ...

US retailer GameStop is expecting price cuts for the PlayStation 3 and Wii in the third quarter of its financial year.

Speaking during a conference call to investors, CEO Daniel DeMatteo said that the company's forecast of 33.5 million hardware unit sales factors in price cuts on current hardware from Sony and Nintendo.

"That assumes that there will be price cuts on the PS3 and potentially one on the Wii," offered DeMatteo, although he admitted that "it’s hard to tell if we actually need a price cut on the Wii to get to our numbers. There are some price cuts built into that assumption, but not until the third quarter."

DeMatteo said the price of hardware was too high in the current economic market, and format-holders will need to reduce the RRP of consoles in order to meet their current sales forecasts.

"The hardware price points, given this economic environment are potentially too high, and if the platform holders are going to make the numbers that they forecasted for the year, those prices would have to change.

"Also, if you think about it, these hardware prices have stayed up longer in this cycle than in any other time before, and in a very dire economic environment, those two things seem to be mutually exclusive.

"Put all those things together, I think that there will have to be price cuts in order to get the hardware moving to where it needs to be," he added.

During the same call, David Carlson, CFO for the retailer also pinned dates on some upcoming release, suggesting Take-Two's BioShock 2 and Namco's Tekken 6 will be released in October, and Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed will be in stores for November.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ice-cuts-in-q3 ...

US retailer GameStop is expecting price cuts for the PlayStation 3 and Wii in the third quarter of its financial year.

Speaking during a conference call to investors, CEO Daniel DeMatteo said that the company's forecast of 33.5 million hardware unit sales factors in price cuts on current hardware from Sony and Nintendo.

"That assumes that there will be price cuts on the PS3 and potentially one on the Wii," offered DeMatteo, although he admitted that "it’s hard to tell if we actually need a price cut on the Wii to get to our numbers. There are some price cuts built into that assumption, but not until the third quarter."

DeMatteo said the price of hardware was too high in the current economic market, and format-holders will need to reduce the RRP of consoles in order to meet their current sales forecasts.

"The hardware price points, given this economic environment are potentially too high, and if the platform holders are going to make the numbers that they forecasted for the year, those prices would have to change.

"Also, if you think about it, these hardware prices have stayed up longer in this cycle than in any other time before, and in a very dire economic environment, those two things seem to be mutually exclusive.

"Put all those things together, I think that there will have to be price cuts in order to get the hardware moving to where it needs to be," he added.

During the same call, David Carlson, CFO for the retailer also pinned dates on some upcoming release, suggesting Take-Two's BioShock 2 and Namco's Tekken 6 will be released in October, and Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed will be in stores for November.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ice-cuts-in-q3 ...

The Nintendo DS was the best-selling system in Japan for the week ended May 10, in another quiet week for hardware.

Combined sales of the DSi and DS reached 63,203 units, ahead of Sony's PSP which sold 43,009 units.

The Wii was the leading home console, up marginally on last week to 24,397 units, while Sony's PlayStation 3 notched up another 18,483 units.

The PlayStation 2 once again outsold the Xbox 360, although both only scraped just over 5000 units, with 5137 and 5068 sold, respectively.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-flat-in-japan ...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said that High Street retail still has the competitive edge over digital sales, and he doesn't expect a significant change to the way consumers purchase games in the near term.

Nintendo's WiiWare and DSiWare releases are efforts by the company to appeal to consumers who are keen to buy product online, but Iwata admitted that digital sales for the company have only seen a small increase since the initial launch of the services.

"Already today, a number of people are aware of and appreciate the convenience of online shopping," said Iwata during a recent conference call. "Accordingly, Nintendo must be making efforts to provide them with the new mode of shopping.

"Simultaneously, however, I do not believe the competitive edge that packaged software has today will easily be taken up any time soon."

Iwata acknowledged that sales of videogames via online services are likely to dominate in the long-term, but he does not believe consumer habits will change quickly in the more immediate future.

"If people ask such extreme question as, 'Do you think that 20 years from now, customers will still be visiting retail outlets in order to purchase the majority of software in packaged format?', I will then have to answer, 'well, perhaps, the situation will be different.' However, if I am told, 'within a couple of years from today, there will be no retail outlets which will be selling packaged software,' my reaction must be, 'there's got to be something wrong with that assumption because I do not believe people's behaviours can change in such a short time,'" he said.

With digital sales of WiiWare titles, Nintendo has noticed that early adopters were keen on the service, but the company must do more to to reach consumers in the larger installed base, said Iwata.

"A number of early purchasers of new videogame hardware tend to be those who love something new on the market, so the net connection ratio can be high at the beginning, but if we do nothing about it, it can gradually go down as the hardware increases its installed base.

"In case of Nintendo platforms - because the company has been challenging itself with several measures - net connection ratios have gradually been increasing as time goes by. We are making efforts with the hope that it will someday reach and go beyond the tipping point. The current situation, however, is that we are observing only a gradual increase," he offered.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...gital-releases ...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said that High Street retail still has the competitive edge over digital sales, and he doesn't expect a significant change to the way consumers purchase games in the near term.

Nintendo's WiiWare and DSiWare releases are efforts by the company to appeal to consumers who are keen to buy product online, but Iwata admitted that digital sales for the company have only seen a small increase since the initial launch of the services.

"Already today, a number of people are aware of and appreciate the convenience of online shopping," said Iwata during a recent conference call. "Accordingly, Nintendo must be making efforts to provide them with the new mode of shopping.

"Simultaneously, however, I do not believe the competitive edge that packaged software has today will easily be taken up any time soon."

Iwata acknowledged that sales of videogames via online services are likely to dominate in the long-term, but he does not believe consumer habits will change quickly in the more immediate future.

"If people ask such extreme question as, 'Do you think that 20 years from now, customers will still be visiting retail outlets in order to purchase the majority of software in packaged format?', I will then have to answer, 'well, perhaps, the situation will be different.' However, if I am told, 'within a couple of years from today, there will be no retail outlets which will be selling packaged software,' my reaction must be, 'there's got to be something wrong with that assumption because I do not believe people's behaviours can change in such a short time,'" he said.

With digital sales of WiiWare titles, Nintendo has noticed that early adopters were keen on the service, but the company must do more to to reach consumers in the larger installed base, said Iwata.

"A number of early purchasers of new videogame hardware tend to be those who love something new on the market, so the net connection ratio can be high at the beginning, but if we do nothing about it, it can gradually go down as the hardware increases its installed base.

"In case of Nintendo platforms - because the company has been challenging itself with several measures - net connection ratios have gradually been increasing as time goes by. We are making efforts with the hope that it will someday reach and go beyond the tipping point. The current situation, however, is that we are observing only a gradual increase," he offered.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...gital-releases ...

Representatives of TransGaming have announced that the company has opened an internal game development studio, and have partnered with Foreign Media Games on the development of a game for Nintendo's Wii.

The Canadian studio, which is known primarily for porting games to the Macintosh and iPhone, has begun developing its first original game, titled Armin van Buuren - In the Mix. The game, developed in partnership with Foreign Media Games, will be a DJ simulator based on the career and output of performer Armin van Buuren.

"It's an absolute thrill for our first game to be a new global franchise based on the top DJ in the world, Armin Van Buuren," said TransGaming CEO and president Vikas Gupta. "We are confident that Armin van Buuren – In the Mix will propel the highly popular music gaming genre to new heights with its innovative game play experience that embodies the creativity, energy and artistry of the ultimate DJ."

"As a Dutch publisher we are extremely proud of the fact that it is possible for us to publish this great game in co-operation with one of the biggest music icons of this moment," added Foreign Media Games managing director Michel van Elmpt.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...lopment-studio ...