With the introduction of dual screens with the DS, Nintendo put themselves in an odd position when it came time to develop their next handheld. Would it keep the two screens or would it just go back to a traditional single screen?

Of course, we know the answer now, but with the launch of the 3DS, a similar dilemma has reared its head, this time involving the handheld’s 3D screen.

In an interview with The Independent, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said he will likely keep 3D elements for their future systems.

“It’s nice to have good graphics but not necessarily on their own, so I don’t think we’ll present [3D graphics] as one of the key features of our consoles but will probably stick with 3D as one of the minor elements of our consoles in the future.
”

It makes sense that Nintendo would downplay 3D as a selling point of a future system. 3D’s “wow” factor would not have as much of an impact the second time around.

Source: The Independent

When it comes to online services, Nintendo likes to keep things free. That won’t be changing with the Wii U, but Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata says it’s possible that they might not be able to keep it that way.

“We cannot promise here that Nintendo will always provide you with online services free of charge no matter how deep the experiences are that it may provide, but at least we are not thinking of asking our consumers to pay money to just casually get access to our ordinary online services,” Iwata told shareholders at a recent meeting.

On the subject of remaining profitable while refusing to charge customers for online features, Iwata said he believes that they can increase profits through software sales boosted by user recommendations on Miiverse.

“In developing a network service called ‘Miiverse’ available for the Wii U, we are pursuing how to amplify and transmit consumers’ empathy about a game. For example, when you see another user enjoying the same game you also play say, ‘I enjoyed another game like this and that too,’ you might be interested in a game which otherwise would not be on your wish list at all. In other words, even if we will not directly get paid by such online services, they will help build the circumstance where consumers are more constantly playing games on our platforms, which will increase the sales potential of new games, or a consumer who has played two games a year would be inclined to try three or four games a year.”

It’s an interesting line of reasoning, and one I hope works out because it would be a shame to see Nintendo resort to online fees.

Source: Nintendo.co.jp

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata isn’t opposed to the idea of a paid online service for consoles and handhelds, but when it comes to the Wii U, he understands that it’s probably not the best approach.

During a company shareholder meeting yesterday, Iwata told attendees that not charging for the Wii U’s online features will encourage use and drive promotion through word of mouth, which will lead to increased hardware and software sales.

Source: Andriasang

The official Kirby’s Adventure strategy guide from 1993 features doodles of the pink puffball from three men who would go on to become big names at Nintendo: Masahiro Sakurai, Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata.

It seems kind of unfair to have Iwata draw Kirby, especially since his drawing would inevitably be compared with the ones from Sakurai, Kirby’s creator, and Miyamoto, who has a background in art.

Still, I kind of want to see Iwata’s funky looking Kirby in a game. Come on, Sakurai. Make it a skin in Smash Bros. 3DS!

Source: Andriasang

The Q & A session from last month’s Q1 financial results briefing has been translated and posted in its entirety over at Nintendo’s investor relations page.

While there is a massive amount of info to dig through, we did learn that the Wii U’s release date won’t be announced until sometime next year. Like with the 3DS, you can expect to hear a solid date fairly close to the system’s actual launch.

“What we will be able to do to recover the consumers’ trust before the launch of the Wii U is very important to us. Since the Wii U we showed you at the E3 show in June was still in the development phase without very specific proposals on the software titles, we are going to announce the release date and the price next year when we are able to explain the specific proposals.”

And regarding the decision to cut the 3DS’ price, it turns out that it could partially be attributed to the situation the GameCube faced during it’s system life.

“… it was slightly a personal decision, meaning that the current executives, who are the ones who make the decisions, all experienced, “there was a chance for the Nintendo GameCube but we were not able to capitalize on it,” and I think that was a large factor, that the executive all shared this sense, not just myself.”

Source: Nintendo.co.jp

Shortly after Nintendo announced the 3DS’ price drop, Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata put out a letter of apology to current 3DS owners and introduced the Ambassador Program. While this program has been announced for all territories, no official translation of the letter has been made. Luckily, Giant Bomb has stepped in to do the job:

To Those Customers Who Bought A Nintendo 3DS Before The Price Change

Greetings, everyone. This is Satoru Iwata from Nintendo.

Thank you very much for purchasing a Nintendo 3DS.

We have just announced a price drop for the Nintendo 3DS system effective on August 11 [August 12 in North America].

In the past, there have been price drops for video game systems some time after their release in order to broaden the user base further. However, never before has Nintendo chosen to issue such a dramatic price drop less than 6 months after a system release.

We are all too keenly aware that those of you who supported us by purchasing the 3DS in the beginning may feel betrayed and criticize this decision.

This unprecedented timing for a price cut is because the situation has changed greatly since we originally launched the 3DS. We decided it was necessary to take this drastic step in order to ensure that large numbers of users will continue to enjoy the 3DS in the future.

If the software creators and those on the retail side are not confident that the Nintendo 3DS is a worthy successor to the DS and will achieve a similarly broad (user) base, it will be impossible for the 3DS to gain popularity, acquire a wide range of software, and eventually create the product cycle necessary for everyone to be satisfied with the system.

Those customers who purchased the 3DS at the very beginning are extremely important to us. We know that there is nothing we can do to completely make up for the feeling that you are being punished for buying the system early. Still, we would like to offer the following as a sign of our appreciation to you.

[3DS Ambassador program details]

We feel a strong responsibility to develop the 3DS as a platform — to ensure that, in the end, everyone is satisfied; we will make every effort to do so.

Additionally, we know everyone is waiting for Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7. They are scheduled for release in November and December, respectively, so we ask for your patience until then.

Thank you again, and we look forward to your continued support.

I don’t know why Nintendo didn’t release this letter to other territories. It add a sincere, personal touch to the announcement that just isn’t there in the press release we got in America.

Source: Giant Bomb

With everyone wondering what’s going on over at Nintendo following the drastic moves made in the past few days, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata addressed the situation at a financial results briefing yesterday.

Iwata was quick to admit that the 3DS has not been performing to expectations and that the price drop was done in order to rebuild momentum and get the handheld’s sales back on pace.

Another reason for cutting the 3DS’ price was because they want to greatly grow the install base before games like Kid Icarus: Uprising and the recently renamed Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3DLand head out for the big holiday push.

While trying to allay investor fears, Iwata asked shareholders to wait until the end of the year before making any judgements on selling stock. He noted that the company is aware of the negative effect the price cut will have on the 3DS’ profitability, but he refer to it as being a short-term issue.

All of these changes are being made in hopes of making the 3DS a worthy successor to the DS line.

A full transcript of Iwata’s message can be found on Nintendo’s investor relations page or after the break.

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Taking responsibility for the 3DS not meeting sales expectations, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told shareholders that he and other company higher-ups will be opting to take pay cuts.

Iwata will take the biggest pay reduction, cutting 50 percent from his annual salary of $2 million. A 30 percent pay cut will be made to directors who worked closely on the 3DS, while other company executives will receive a 20 percent reduction to their salaries.

Acting executives in Nintendo weren’t the only ones to lose money, former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi lost more than $300 million when the company’s stock plummeted by 12 percent after they re-evaluated their profit forecast.

Source: Game Informer, Bloomberg

While 3D TVs are still a relatively rare commodity in peoples’ homes, Nintendo’s new console will still be able to provide gamers with a 3D gaming experience.

In an interview with the Mercury News, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed that the Wii U will support 3D TVs, but he also made it clear that 3D gaming is not the system’s main draw.

“If you are going to connect Wii U with a home TV capable of displaying 3-D images, technologically, yes, it is going to be possible, but that’s not the area we are focusing on.

“When it comes to 3-D, we already have the 3DS, and each owner of the Nintendo 3DS is capable of viewing 3-D images. However, when it comes to the home console, it depends upon the availability of 3-D TV sets at home, which, unfortunately, is not expanding enough. And rather than pouring a lot of energy into that kind of area, with the Wii U we’d like to focus more on each Wii U owner being able to have an equal opportunity to enjoy it.”

Even though Nintendo isn’t heavily touting 3D support for the Wii U, citing a small market as reason not to actively pursue it, the fact that they are even supporting it at all is a big turnaround from the previous generation, where they shunned HD support for essentially the same reason.

Source: Mercury News [via Giant Bomb]

The Wii U created quite a buzz at E3, quickly creating long queues of people waiting to play with the console’s tablet-style controller. Despite the positive praise received at E3, Nintendo’s stockholders were not as impressed, leading to a 4.6 percent drop in shares the day after the Wii U announcement.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that because of the way their press conference emphasized the Wii U’s controller, people may have gotten the wrong idea about the new console. Iwata admits that more time should have been spent explaining how the actual system 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,”Iwata said.  “The console is not drastically different, and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible.”

The actual console was heavily downplayed at the conference. It’s understandable that someone could mistake the controller for the console or think that it was simply an add-on for the Wii. I’ll admit that I initially made that mistake when I first saw it.

Source: London Evening Standard [via GoNintendo]