HD has no "significant meaning" for Wii

via Games Industry


Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, has stated his belief that high definition visuals have no "significant meaning" for users of the Wii console - although he does concede that if the company were making a new console, it would be HD-compatible.

"If we have an opportunity to make a new console, it will probably support HD because it is now common throughout the world," he told Venturebeat. "However, as far as the Wii is concerned, we have not found a significant reason to make it HD-compatible at this time.

"What is the significant meaning to the users? I don't think we should do it unless we find that reason. If we decide for other reasons to make new hardware, then HD is one of the things we would naturally add."

He also added that, following big reveals at E3 by both Microsoft and Sony of motion-based control systems, he feels no compulsion to try to stay ahead of them, but is simply focusing on their current plans for the next two years.

"We don't have any information about when they would introduce these things and at what kind of price," he said. "Until we know exactly what they will do, it's harder to understand what we would need to do.

"What Nintendo has to do is make software that takes advantage of the Wii MotionPlus and make efforts to make the public understand the benefits of the Wii MotionPlus controls. As the pioneer of motion-sensing technology, what Nintendo has to do is provide new surprises in the next and two years from now."