NINTENDO ROLLS THE DICE WITH REVOLUTION

[shadow]

Revolution so 'different' it may be shunned by third-parties? Nintendo President Satoru Iwata discusses the Japanese giant's next console

13:17 Curiosity surrounding Nintendo's Revolution has been further tweaked by some surprise comments from the company's President, Satoru Iwata.
According to Iwata-san, the Revolution may be a console that third-party developers and publishers find lacks appeal, building on the general assumption that the machine will be anything but mainstream and will knock expectations for six when it's finally unveiled at E3 this year.

Speaking to trade publication MCV recently, Iwata-san said that: "If the next generation platforms are going to create even more gorgeous looking games using further enhanced functionality, and if that next-gen market can still expand the games industry, then I'm afraid that third-parties may not support Nintendo."







However, Iwata-san went on to say that: "If we receive the support of the licensees, I believe we will expand third party support", a statement that ties in with similarities Nintendo sees Revolution having with DS in terms of bringing innovation to the market.
"...what we are trying to do is such a different thing," he said. "...people have come to realize that the approach we have taken with Nintendo DS can actually expand the market beyond what existing platforms can do."

"Therefore I believe there should be more third parties who are willing to support Nintendo's new ideas," Iwata-san told MCV.

[Majunks]

This is pretty interesting. I'd probably buy that and then the PS3.

[shadow]

Its interesting yet confusing. The reason the GC failed was due to lack of 3rd party support, which basically means, they didnt have support from developers like EA, UBISOFT etc.
Now anyone with common sense would think Nintendo would try to make the Revolution more user friendly, but oh no, it seems like they are only focusing on themselves as developers and alienating any other possible developer from the console.
This could be devastating news for Nintendo fans.

[FoxExecutive]

Hmm, yeah that sounds unwise. But possibly, the Revolution IS more user friendly, just odd in its approach. I wouldn't say the Gamecube failed, but more of a shunned system.

[Majunks]

The Cube didn't really fail, it just lost alot of momentum because they didn't have nearly as many games pumping out as PS2 or X-Box! That's why I have a cube and a station 2.

[shadow]

Majunks said:

The Cube didn't really fail, it just lost alot of momentum because they didn't have nearly as many games pumping out as PS2 or X-Box! That's why I have a cube and a station 2.

I used the world "fail" as each console attempts to be #1, and currently GC is the #3 best selling console.
Your quote is a perfect example of what this news suggests for Revolution. GC doesnt have many games coming out as they havent got good 3rd party support where Xbox and PS2 has excellent support.

[HLOCKE]

shadow said:

I used the world "fail" as each console attempts to be #1, and currently GC is the #3 best selling console.
Your quote is a perfect example of what this news suggests for Revolution. GC doesnt have many games coming out as they havent got good 3rd party support where Xbox and PS2 has excellent support.

^^^So doesn't that mean the Xbox "failed" too?


But to stay on topic, I think Iwata's quotes should be taken with an open mind. Nintendo is a very tricky corporation that states one thing, and produces a radically different product.

Nintendo for years has promised better 3rd-party support for the N64 and Gamecube, and while the strategy hasn't exactly brought in a steady stream of success. 3rd party support for Cube is notieably improved over that of the Nintendo 64.

However, Nintendo lately has been stating that they may lose more 3rd-parties with the Revolution and DS, and the result so far has concluded with tons of DS support and possibly equally as much for the Revolution. In my opinion this is Nintendo utilizying simple, reverse psychology. As I said...take this with an open mind, don't come to any conclusions until you see what Nintendo has to offer.

[shadow]

The said:

^^^So doesn't that mean the Xbox "failed" too?


But to stay on topic, I think Iwata's quotes should be taken with an open mind. Nintendo is a very tricky corporation that states one thing, and produces a radically different product.

Nintendo for years has promised better 3rd-party support for the N64 and Gamecube, and while the strategy hasn't exactly brought in a steady stream of success. 3rd party support for Cube is notieably improved over that of the Nintendo 64.

However, Nintendo lately has been stating that they may lose more 3rd-parties with the Revolution and DS, and the result so far has concluded with tons of DS support and possibly equally as much for the Revolution. In my opinion this is Nintendo utilizying simple, reverse psychology. As I said...take this with an open mind, don't come to any conclusions until you see what Nintendo has to offer.

Considering Xbox is M$'s first console, the goal for this gen was to establish themselves. I believe they have achieved that so they have reached their goal.

As for 3rd party support, DS hasn't had a ton load but it's continued the trend of the GBA. DS at the moment is the "safe" handheld to develop for as its a Nintendo handheld so we'll see how that goes.
Currently, PSP is winning the handheld war, but its early days. If this effects 3rd party support of the DS is a matter to think about.
As for Revolution, its going to be a typical Nintendo console. Nintendo always develop their console with them in mind. They make the high quality games so the console needs to meet their requirements to bring their ideas to reality. That means the console is going to be different from say what Xbox 2 and PS3 will aim for. Those two console are created with developers in mind, especially Xbox 2.
I feel if Nintendo go over-board with crazy ideas this time, they risk alienating developers and gamers.

[FoxExecutive]

When you said PSP was winning did you mean that the PSP is doing better in Japan than Nintendo? Or did you mean that the PSP is doing better than Nintendo in Japan and the US combined? Anyway, the only way a system would lose third party support would be if the system doesn't sell well. If Nintendo does a good job of swaying some of the general public, then third party support will go up to milk the cash cow. But in order for Nintendo to do this they better make sure the system is something spectacular. The PS3 and Xbox 2 or 360 look to be amazing systems. If Nintendo wants to ever be number one, they are going to have to put all the money on the table.

[shadow]

I meant that PSP is outselling DS in Japan. The US PSP launch will be upon us soon so we'll see how it does with a slightly higger price tag than Japan.
DS should be safe in Europe for a good few months until PSP makes its way over here.

[Majunks]

I dunno, remember: Sony has had alot of hardware problems. And for those of you that don't think so tell me: What the Hell does "Disk Read Error" mean?

[shadow]

Majunks said:

I dunno, remember: Sony has had alot of hardware problems. And for those of you that don't think so tell me: What the Hell does "Disk Read Error" mean?

While PSP has had alot of errors, they have been unfairly shouted out due to this being Sony's first handheld. Lucky for us, the problems will have been sorted for the US and European launch.
The DS has also had alot of errors but due to the PSP's high profile, they have been forgotten.
I think its fair to say DS and PSP have had their fair share of problems.

[FoxExecutive]

Really, I don't ever remember hearing about the DS's instances to shoot the disk out at you. Whatever problems the DS has, they don't even compare to the PSP's.