A number of first-party Nintendo 3DS games are already finished, but Nintendogs + Cats remains the system's sole first-party launch title. Why? In order to give third-party games most attention.
That's according to a NeoGAF translation of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's Tokyo press Q&A this morning, following yesterday's Osaka briefing.
He also said Nintendo wants to give third-parties more attention, and that it has games that were finished even before Nintendogs, yet will be released after launch.
Presumably these titles would be Pilotwings and Steel Diver, which are planned to arrive in the 'launch window' ahead of early June.
Finally, Iwata is quoted as saying there are still many 3DS games set for release this year that haven't been announced.
It all makes sense to us but as always, because anything can be lost in translation, consider this as a rumour for the time being.
Comments
14 comments so far...
l1nc on 28 Jan '11 said:
That is just dumb I will be buying my 3ds on launch but I will not be buying any software until something worth Ł40 is released eg: Zelda, mario, starfox,or mgs. come on nintendo give us something big to play at launch (zelda).
microhenry on 28 Jan '11 said:
From a business standpoint (ie relations with 3rd party developers) I guess this is a good move. I suppose their plan is to avoid what happened with the Wii meaning that very few 3rd party games sell well and only Nintendo's own software sticks in the charts.
From a gamer's standpoint this is crap. Unless you're a fan of fighting games there are no real standout titles. Then again, the DS launch lineup was absolutely shocking and I ditched mine for a few years in favour of the PSP until the DS library filled out a bit.
Contrary to the argument that PSP HAZ N0 GAEMZ there was actually plenty of stuff to play. During the 4 or so years that I used my PSP a lot there were plenty of excellent titles. And then I discovered Monster Hunter. 400 hours later I finally got bored and headed back to my new DSi just in time for Pokemon Platinum.
monty_79 on 28 Jan '11 said:
Give it a few more days so the fuss over the PSP2 dies down a bit, then watch as a few suprises are announced. I think nintendo have a couple of of cards up their sleeve that they are going to deal a bit closer to the launch of the 3DS too, just too make sure anyone who may have been originally planning to get a 3DS then were swayed by PSP2 to get focused back on 3DS.
milky_joe on 28 Jan '11 said:
I figured this was the case. They're focusing on third parties to give them a good chance at high sales, and thus likely continual support. Of course that puts the 'people only buy Nintendo systems for Nintendo games' theory to the test...
Barca Azul on 28 Jan '11 said:
In its parents wardrobe until Christmas?
Athrun888 on 28 Jan '11 said:
Makes sense to be honest, Nintendo make the best games on the market, and nobody wants to go directly up against them, a year before they hit will give third party's a chance to establish their franchises.
This also could explain the region locking, I'd thought it was stupid as it's basically challenging hackers, but that's possibly exactly what Nintendo are doing, by showing how secure the system is they'll boost third party faith and make them more likely to choose their system to develop on.
Not that I actually like either of these things, and the region lock is just stupid (even if that's their reason).
Mr S0L0 D0L0 on 28 Jan '11 said:
I got an invite to try out the 3DS: http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/eve ... A888535404
I don't want/can't go maybe the link works for other people, IDK but it doesn't hurt to try. The events are in partnership with HMV on 12th/13th Feb in either Bristol or Glasgow.
AJDarkstar on 28 Jan '11 said:
NGamer mentioned games referred to only as "001, 002 & 003", so yes, they're keeping their cards close to their chest - partly to avoid Sony copying them yet again, no doubt, and partly to surprise us all either closer to or post-launch.
From a business standpoint, there's no point releasing Zelda, Starfox, Mario Kart, etc, all on launch day. 1) Who would be able to afford them all that way? 2) Some titles would lose sales as a result, the biggest loss being to third-party devs. Nintendo themselves have pointed out that 3rd parties have a tough time on Wii, with many of the best 3rd party games being ignored as people go for Nintendo's own games, which is a real shame, as many of the unique 3rd party Wii games are amazing (Red Steel 2, Little King's Story, Sin & Punishment, MadWorld, No More Heroes and many more deserve to be in any true gamer's collection). So I get this move completely; it's the same thing they did with VC & WiiWare, for the same reasons.
SkyBlueJukeBox on 28 Jan '11 said:
This confirms it for me, I won't be buying this until Ocarina of Time is released (hopefully with a special edition 3DS to go with it!
)
mandlecreed on 28 Jan '11 said:
Yoshi's Island 3DS and a remake of Super Metroid ready to go please. I just want to see Ridley fly out of the screen at me.
Jon Ahmad on 28 Jan '11 said:
Waverace 3D!! You know it makes sense Ninty. In fact, I can feel the gushing excitement - right, I'll stop there.
g_marrs on 28 Jan '11 said:
Check under the bed. Most people hide things under the bed.
kimoak on 30 Jan '11 said:
Waverace would be perfect for the 3DS. I would snap it up right away as long as it was like the first one. Waverace Cube version didn't quite do it for me.
Very_Silver_Ownz on 30 Jan '11 said:
wasn't planning on getting this but probably will when Zelda OOT is released. that game was awesome on the N64.