Satoru Iwata has said he was unsure whether he'd be fired before Nintendo's campaign to expand the gaming market was successful.
"In my first year as president my ideas met scepticism, also within the company," he said to German website Spiegel online.
"I was lucky that it worked so quickly. For a long time it wasn't certain what would happen first: That we'd have success with the new console, or that I was fired."
Despite his hesitations, Iwata never doubted that his commitment to expanding the market. "I believed always in the fact that more people would play video games, if the hurdle between them and play became lower than it were and often today still is."
Job for life.
Note: Quotations grammatically re-structured to make sense in English
A good move for him, a smart financial move for the company, but a totally disastrous move for anyone who actually enjoyed "real" games on a Nintendo console.
i was surprised the dragon lord himself yamauchi actually handed the reigns over to iwata. they seem so different.
iwata seems to be pretty mellow and has tried to improve nintendos relationships with 3rd parties (though getting epic back on board is beyond even him).
yamauchi's the guy who infamously told square that FFVII would be on the n64 only or not at all when it was proposed as a multiformat (n64/ps1) title. he'd cut his nose off to spite his face.
the fact is though that nintendo are (financially) in better 'nick' than at any time since their 16 bit heyday. yamauchi may be a bitter old bugger but he sure backed a winner in iwata.
A good move for him, a smart financial move for the company, but a totally disastrous move for anyone who actually enjoyed "real" games on a Nintendo console.
Your (and anyone that spouts BS like you) "woe is me" act is really becoming tiresome.
So is listening to people defend Nintendo despite them turning their back on everyone who has enjoyed playing games on their machines for the past 20 years in favour of the easy come, easy go crowd.
So is listening to people defend Nintendo despite them turning their back on everyone who has enjoyed playing games on their machines for the past 20 years in favour of the easy come, easy go crowd.
I never forced you to read or respond
But I'm responding anyway, because I can only take so much belly-aching before it just becomes ridiculous.
"They're abandoning us!!!11!"
How?
"By not making the games that I've loved playing on their consoles for generations!!11!Ł"
Have they not released Zelda, mario, metroid, Fire emblem, SSB and mario kart? Have they not announced that those developers are hard at work on more games? Have they not confirmed pikmin? Is AC coming out this year?
"Yes"
Then what's the problem?
"I dunno lol!!!!11!"
"... Oh wait, I know!! Because they aren't going in the exact same route as SONY and Microsoft"
A good move for him, a smart financial move for the company, but a totally disastrous move for anyone who actually enjoyed "real" games on a Nintendo console.
I dont understand all this negative comments about the Wii, wot Nintendo have achieved with the Wii should be praised. They have managed to make gaming fun for everyone again, there is no other console that when u take it to a family party or u have friends round everyone can pick it up & play on it. They have made gaming accessible & people aren't afraid or put off by the 15 button combinations u need to know to play it. Nintendo have always been about innovation & fun, i never really liked any Mario games or Nintendo as a company. I'm more of a core gamer & dont see the attraction, but after my missus got a Wii & i've playd on it, it is a great machine. And as for the Nintendo having turned there back on the Hard core, hasnt there already been about 3 Mario games & a couple of Zelda's how many do you need?... things have to move on.
A good move for him, a smart financial move for the company, but a totally disastrous move for anyone who actually enjoyed "real" games on a Nintendo console.
I dont understand all this negative comments about the Wii, wot Nintendo have achieved with the Wii should be praised. They have managed to make gaming fun for everyone again, there is no other console that when u take it to a family party or u have friends round everyone can pick it up & play on it. They have made gaming accessible & people aren't afraid or put off by the 15 button combinations u need to know to play it. Nintendo have always been about innovation & fun, i never really liked any Mario games or Nintendo as a company. I'm more of a core gamer & dont see the attraction, but after my missus got a Wii & i've playd on it, it is a great machine. And as for the Nintendo having turned there back on the Hard core, hasnt there already been about 3 Mario games & a couple of Zelda's how many do you need?... things have to move on.
Thank you. You're not even a fan of them, and yet you can still atleast appreciate some of the achievements they've come up with, with the DS and Wii.
I do appreciate that they've opened the gaming world up to non-gamers. Sort of.
But lets be totally honest here, there's no crossover. The people who got a Wii for Wii Sports or Wii Fit, will not ever play the kind of games that made Nintendo what they are today. They didn't play them before, they won't play them now.
So the non-gamers get plenty of what I guess must be decent things if you like that kind of thing. The rest of us get the occasional decent one in there. Galaxy, Mario Kart, Brawl. Zelda isn't out on Wii yet, TP was a GC port remember. I think if you compare the number of first-party "games" over the number of first-party "activities" you see a serious imbalance.
So yes, I object to it. I've bought Nintendo products for the past 15 years. A lot of people have. Before they sold out. And without all those people they wouldn't have a business. So turning their back on them (or "us" I guess) makes me feel like they don't value my custom at all.
And Iwata obviously agrees since he made a public apology after their E3 debacle.
So is listening to people defend Nintendo despite them turning their back on everyone who has enjoyed playing games on their machines for the past 20 years in favour of the easy come, easy go crowd.
I never forced you to read or respond
But I'm responding anyway, because I can only take so much belly-aching before it just becomes ridiculous.
"They're abandoning us!!!11!"
How?
"By not making the games that I've loved playing on their consoles for generations!!11!Ł"
Have they not released Zelda, mario, metroid, Fire emblem, SSB and mario kart? Have they not announced that those developers are hard at work on more games? Have they not confirmed pikmin? Is AC coming out this year?
"Yes"
Then what's the problem?
"I dunno lol!!!!11!"
"... Oh wait, I know!! Because they aren't going in the exact same route as SONY and Microsoft"
I do appreciate that they've opened the gaming world up to non-gamers. Sort of.
But lets be totally honest here, there's no crossover. The people who got a Wii for Wii Sports or Wii Fit, will not ever play the kind of games that made Nintendo what they are today. They didn't play them before, they won't play them now.
So the non-gamers get plenty of what I guess must be decent things if you like that kind of thing. The rest of us get the occasional decent one in there. Galaxy, Mario Kart, Brawl. Zelda isn't out on Wii yet, TP was a GC port remember. I think if you compare the number of first-party "games" over the number of first-party "activities" you see a serious imbalance.
So yes, I object to it. I've bought Nintendo products for the past 15 years. A lot of people have. Before they sold out. And without all those people they wouldn't have a business. So turning their back on them (or "us" I guess) makes me feel like they don't value my custom at all.
And Iwata obviously agrees since he made a public apology after their E3 debacle.
Im no Nintendo historian?, but hasn't this always been the way with Nintendo consoles?, they have a handful of Amazing! 1st party games, normally the usual suspects Mario, zelda etc, then a bunch of half descent 1st party games, then a ton of crap from 3rd party developers??. I know the Wii has probably caused Nintendo to shift there focus slightly due to the new fan base they have acquired, but i dont see whats so different?.
I agree that their performance at E3 was poor and i was disappointed with the line up of games on show BUT i am very happy with the Wii up to this point. And i'm sure this is just a blip in form.
I actually really love Wii Sports and yet i've owned pretty much every games console since the Megadrive. Playstation, N64, Cube, Xbox, Dreamcast, Wii, X360... I like the new Nintendo. Certainly a lot better than Sony at this moment.
And Zelda IS on Wii. It was released at the same time as the Cube version so you can't remove that from your list.
I always considered everyting Nintendo did after the SNES to be pretty uninteresting, sure they had a handful of really good games but they rely too much on nostalgia and tried and tested franchises rather than innovation.
So i found itquite impressive what they achieved with the Wii, their brand has never been about cutting edge games with extremely high production values. Why bother trying to tap into that market when there are two existing consoles doing a good job of battleing it out already. Exceed where the others have not.
Saying that I can see where Nintendo fans are coming from who are complaining they wanted to be considered gamers, and not pigeon holed into the same user base as granny and granpa
I do appreciate that they've opened the gaming world up to non-gamers. Sort of.
But lets be totally honest here, there's no crossover. The people who got a Wii for Wii Sports or Wii Fit, will not ever play the kind of games that made Nintendo what they are today. They didn't play them before, they won't play them now.
So the non-gamers get plenty of what I guess must be decent things if you like that kind of thing. The rest of us get the occasional decent one in there. Galaxy, Mario Kart, Brawl. Zelda isn't out on Wii yet, TP was a GC port remember. I think if you compare the number of first-party "games" over the number of first-party "activities" you see a serious imbalance.
So yes, I object to it. I've bought Nintendo products for the past 15 years. A lot of people have. Before they sold out. And without all those people they wouldn't have a business. So turning their back on them (or "us" I guess) makes me feel like they don't value my custom at all.
And Iwata obviously agrees since he made a public apology after their E3 debacle.
Where were all these people that catapulted Nintendo into first place last gen? Oh wait, they weren't there when Nintendo were going down the s**tter? I'm shocked!
Face it, if Nintendo catered only to YOU, they might not have even been here today. You of all things, should be f**king grateful. Nintendo's "real games" output has been better then is was for ten years.
I do appreciate that they've opened the gaming world up to non-gamers. Sort of.
But lets be totally honest here, there's no crossover. The people who got a Wii for Wii Sports or Wii Fit, will not ever play the kind of games that made Nintendo what they are today. They didn't play them before, they won't play them now.
So the non-gamers get plenty of what I guess must be decent things if you like that kind of thing. The rest of us get the occasional decent one in there. Galaxy, Mario Kart, Brawl. Zelda isn't out on Wii yet, TP was a GC port remember. I think if you compare the number of first-party "games" over the number of first-party "activities" you see a serious imbalance.
So yes, I object to it. I've bought Nintendo products for the past 15 years. A lot of people have. Before they sold out. And without all those people they wouldn't have a business. So turning their back on them (or "us" I guess) makes me feel like they don't value my custom at all.
And Iwata obviously agrees since he made a public apology after their E3 debacle.
Where were all these people that catapulted Nintendo into first place last gen? Oh wait, they weren't there when Nintendo were going down the s**tter? I'm shocked!
Face it, if Nintendo catered only to YOU, they might not have even been here today. You of all things, should be f**king grateful. Nintendo's "real games" output has been better then is was for ten years.
So I ask again: What's the problem?
Very true...Nintendo were very much in the last chance saloon which makes their financial turnaround all the more impressive.
Colonel Whiskers, I was gonna quote you but I think I can sum it up well enough by saying I 100% agree with everything you have said.
I'm a videogames fan of 24 years and I'm totally happy with the Wii. Anything I'm lacking I can get from my 360. That's always been the case with consoles though. There is inevitably a game or type of game you want on another system. So you choose to either do what I always did and buy the new system and the game or you can bitch about it.
This 'they've forgotten about real gamers' bulls**t is only because there isn't a Wii equivalent to Halo/GOW/Resistance. There are some absolute pearls out for the Wii, just not gritty 18-rated shooters set in the future or space. If that's the sort of game you would like to play then make sure you're got a 360 (or a PS3 I suppose) under your telly as well.
as other people have said during the gamecube era so many people ditched nintendo & towards the end of the gc's life the company's future looked incredibly bleak, so its good that took the direction they did. if they solely listened to dajmin and his ilk the company would be dead & buried by now. more to the point i dunno why you keep insisting they've abandoned the 'core' gamer, take galaxy - has high production values & is by far the best game on the wii. and no doubt the new zelda will have production values similar to galaxy
So the non-gamers get plenty of what I guess must be decent things if you like that kind of thing. The rest of us get the occasional decent one in there. Galaxy, Mario Kart, Brawl. Zelda isn't out on Wii yet, TP was a GC port remember. I think if you compare the number of first-party "games" over the number of first-party "activities" you see a serious imbalance.
So yes, I object to it. I've bought Nintendo products for the past 15 years. A lot of people have. Before they sold out. And without all those people they wouldn't have a business. So turning their back on them (or "us" I guess) makes me feel like they don't value my custom at all.
And Iwata obviously agrees since he made a public apology after their E3 debacle.
Sorry but you seem to be seeing what you want to see. We are just over a year and a half into the Wii's lifespan and have a Epic Zelda game (port or not, it is a 40+ hour adventure) the true sequel to Mario 64 with the amazing Mario Galaxy, The third instalment of Metroid Prime and Online Battalion Wars, Mario Karts and Smash Bros. Even Super Paper Mario, which is under-rated. I'd say that's pretty good going to be honest!
Yes they have also given us Wii Play, Sports, Fit, Mario Party, Strikers, Excite Truck, Endless Ocean, Links Crossbow, WarioWare Whether you consider these as 'games', 'activities' or just 'fillers'. they are all good titles scoring well in reviews.
And any true Ninty fan knew that Pikmin, new Mario and Zelda games were in production, did we really need to be told the obvious?
Add to this the strong retro line up on Virtual Console and the new WiiWare and I'd say Nintendo fans have never had it so good.
I was one of the few that held on to my Game Cube til the end because I knew Resi 4 would be awesome, and I'm glad I did. But the cube was Nintendo's weakest console, last choice for many developers and gamers. If they had gone head to head with Microsoft and Sony this generation it would have been Nintendo's Dreamcast. Regardless of it's graphical power (don't forget the cube was technically superior to PS2) but Sony had the market sown up with Xbox picking up what was left. This time Microsoft had the head-start and Sony are playing catch up. Nintendo wouldn't of stood a chance!
Okay nostalgia fans, let's take a look at what Nintendo published within the first few years of the SNES' life:
1991:
Super Mario World F-Zero Pilotwings Sim City Super Tennis
That's three top class games, one cheap port, and a casual game.
1992:
Mario Paint Super Mario Kart Super Scope 6 Battle Clash The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Super Play Action Football NCAA Basketball Super Soccer
Two great games, a couple of decidely average titles, and a whole bunch of casual stuff. Not exactly looking great so far.
1993:
Star Fox Super Mario All-Stars Yoshi's Safari Vegas Stakes Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge NHL Stanley Cup Mario & Wario (Japan only)
Two good releases (one of which is a bunch of remakes of NES titles), and a whole bunch of casual crap. Oh dear.
So, in summary the first three saw a grand total of SEVEN top quality "core" Nintendo published games, and a whole lot of crap.
The same length of time in the Wii's lifespan has admittedly given us only five games generally agreed as "triple A" (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii), but there have also been several "double A" games (e.g. Super Paper Mario, Battalion Wars 2, Endless Ocean).
In conclusion, those who whine about Nintendo's current output clearly don't have a fricking clue what they're talking about. Nintendo have ALWAYS been guilty of releasing a huge amount of cheap, crappy, casual stuff!
I agree with what a few others have stated. I've followed Nintendo for over a decade now and I'm quite sad that they've changed their target audience. On the other hand, if they went head to head with PS3 and 360 it could have been Nintendo's last console, so in a way I'm just glad to still have Nintendo with us and see them doing well, even though I'm not the casual gamer they are targeting these days. Yes, E3 was a joke for Nintendo. What they need to do is ensure that we'll at least get 4 'core' games per year and spread them out. Maybe one spring, one summer, one autumn and one winter. Sadly they went and released Mario Kart and SSBB around the same time and now we don't really have anything to look forward to apart from Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, which are rather casual games if you ask me...
I wish both sides of this argument would just shut the fuck up. It was boring to begin with but now its been a couple of years these same statements are getting thrown about its got beyond boring.
ts always the f**king same. "Nintendo dont do games anymore"
"yes, they do"
"No they dont"
"okay so far they have *input long, tedious list of games here*"
"Ah but Zelda is a GC game, Resi 4 was on PS2 & GC etc."
Just please stop it. Nintendo fans, stop replying & for the love of God! Please stop posting long lists of the same f**king games. It didnt change the 'haters' minds in first place its not going to now.
I wish both sides of this argument would just shut the f**k up. It was boring to begin with but now its been a couple of years these same statements are getting thrown about its got beyond boring.
ts always the f**king same. "Nintendo dont do games anymore"
"yes, they do"
"No they dont"
"okay so far they have *input long, tedious list of games here*"
"Ah but Zelda is a GC game, Resi 4 was on PS2 & GC etc."
Just please stop it. Nintendo fans, stop replying & for the love of God! Please stop posting long lists of the same f**king games. It didnt change the 'haters' minds in first place its not going to now.
I find your post especially funny, seeing as you're usually the first one to appear in every Nintendo thread whining about how much you hate Nintendo and how they have to somehow "redeem" themselves.
I find your post especially funny, seeing as you're usually the first one to appear in every Nintendo thread whining about how much you hate Nintendo and how they have to somehow "redeem" themselves.
But I agree with you. Shut the fuck up.
Yeah, I was p**sed of at the geeks comment then E3 just pushed me over the edge again. Got past that though. Now I just dont care again.
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