New interview reveals Nintendo innovation push

Speaking to the Seattle Times today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata looked to rally gamers behind the company's innovation-driven stance on current and future gaming, stating that consumers are bored with ever-improving graphics in games.

“Some people say 2005 was regarded as a transitional year in the industry. I just can't agree with them,” explained Iwata, after being asked if 2005 was a failure for games firms. “I do believe we have to find new ways to entertain people. In the past, we have always tried to entertain people with more beautiful graphics and more gorgeous sound and whatnot. The industry still believes that's the only direction we can take in order to surprise people, but unfortunately people are bored already.”

Of course, Iwata's firm is living proof that consumers do indeed respond with cash when offered a new way of playing games, with the touch-screen DS enjoying rampant sales in all territories. Although the DS does not comprise cutting edge graphics and sound, the simple fact that it has two screens, one of which is touch-sensitive has delighted and inspired gamers and game creators alike.

Moving onto the competition, Iwata happily dismissed Sony's PlayStation 3 explaining that Nintendo really doesn't care about the monstrous console as it will be aimed at a different market. Of course, Iwata has made this claim since the Revolution was first mentioned, back at E3 in 2004, though it didn't carry much weight with industry watchers at the time. With the success of the DS and the increasingly intriguing controller, the plan of innovation over power seems more than feasible.

“Because what we are aiming at with the Revolution is much different from what Sony's aiming at with the PlayStation 3, I really don't think any changes in their schedule will affect Nintendo greatly. We have never thought in terms of when they will make the PlayStation 3 available, but rather our hope is launching Revolution in 2006. In that sense, we really don't care what Sony is talking about with a launch delay. When we launched the GameCube, my personal opinion is that we were unable to differentiate the GameCube from the PlayStation 2 enough. When it comes to the Revolution and the PlayStation 3, because those machines are going to be so different, I don't think consumers will wonder which one they should choose. With the Xbox 360 and PS3, I think there is a lot of similarity, so the delay of one product may affect the other party's decision and strategy. But that's not the case with the Revolution. Of course we want people to own the Revolution first. We want people to understand Revolution is the must-have for them.”

So can the Revolution compete?

“In a broader sense, yes. After all, people may have some limited amount of money they can spend for entertainment. We may be competing with any other entertainment company. But in a narrower sense, no. With the information I have about Sony's keynote speech yesterday, my understanding is that Sony was trying to say it is going to do whatever Xbox Live can do, and that it can do much better than the Xbox 360. Nintendo is trying to create some completely different value attached to our products.”