Dean Takahashi recently spoke to Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime about a number of things... (full, very interestinginterview)
- Feels download "games on demand" services like VentureBeat: OnLive would make a lot of sense to PC gaming, but finds it hard to see it working for the home console industry.
- In North America 90% of WiiWare content is rom third parties, with 18 of the top 20 being developed by third parties.
- Feels WiiWare is a "fantastic platform for highly innovative, small development companies to bring their content to the marketplace".
- Recent storage advancements on the Wii have given developers "huge excitement" for WiiWare and DSiWare - the "opportunity for more challenging or risky content".
- Wii storage will go up to 32GB by using higher capacity SDHC cards.
- Feels WiiWare/DSiWare is home to "professionally-made games" over more amateur work.
- Highlights the differences between iPhone/iPod Touch with the DSi:
What Apple is trying to do with the iPhone and iPod Touch is very different than our vision. There are no ongoing subscription fees for the DSi. There are no monthly costs for us. With us, it's about the content with DSiWare and WiiWare. We provide an environment where this innovative content is accessible to consumers. It's easy to find and easy to search. It has some marketing aspects behind it with the Nintendo Channel. We think that's the way for this downloadable content to be delivered to consumers.
What we've embraced is the concept of digital content. Let's talk DSi specifically. It's delivered to your personal device, and you can take it with you anywhere. That's a powerful concept. What they are trying to do has elements of that. We believe the content has to be innovative, high quality, distinctive versus derivative of what you might find on a plethora of other platforms. The latter is not very appealing to us.
- On free-to-play/download games: " From a Nintendo perspective, we believe selling a game that is fair to the consumer and charging them once instead of multiple times is the best business model."
- On used games: "We believe used games aren't in the consumer's best interest. The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. ?We just don't think it's a good idea."
- Big games coming up: New Zelda for DS, various WiiWare/DSiWare projects, Rhythm Heaven, PunchOut!! And Excite Bots. "Plenty of things coming between now and E3."
We are in a fortunate spot given our momentum. It also means the hurdle is that much larger. This month, we need to sell more than the 2.5 million units of Super Smash Bros. that we sold last March. That's a big hurdle. For us, that is what keeps us focused. How do we continue driving growth and bringing great new experiences to the consumer?
Thanks to Dash Kappei on NeoGaf
(Originally Posted by Venture Beat.com - Dean Takahashi's article)
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