Satoru Iwata speaks

Wii News | Nintendo boss discusses the Wii's E3 performance and the PS3 controller.

US Newspaper the Seattle Times managed to score another interview with Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, this time after E3. He discusses almost every topic gamers will be interested in, from the controversial Wii name to the PS3's price and controller. he certainly seemed happy with the reaction to the Wii at E3, stating "We thought that we would get mixed reactions to our presentation. However, almost all the people who have touched and played the Wii have shown very positive reactions."

About the name Wii, apparently Iwata had a few names in front of him, saw it and said "this is it". he described the criteria for choosing the name: "It had to be short enough so that we didn't need any other nicknames or abbreviation. What we are targeting with Wii is not only existing gamers, but also people who have shown no interest in other games. These non-gamers, for example, really cannot understand what GBA means, if GBA is something different from Game Boy Advance. We wanted something with a strong impact that people will remember as soon as they hear it"

When the Seattle Times asked Iwata if he thought Sony had copied Nintendo with its new controller, Iwata answered with a laugh. "Actually before they made the announcement we already anticipated that they might do that, so I had to laugh. Even though I was laughing, it was with a grim face, I should add." He continued: "Having said that, please know that putting the motion-sensor technology into the classic-style controller is one thing. Putting the motion-sensor technology into the Wii remote as well as the "nunchuck" controller, where you can use both hands freely and independently, this is quite another thing."

Check out the full interview here for some more interesting tidbits.

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46 Comments

rodvcpetrie

6 years ago

One point I'd like to make is that the analog sticks which became so common place in gaming, would not have been unless Nintendo innovated that design with their N64 controller. That machine may not have been such a heavy-weight the PS was in terms of some graphics and amount of titles but that controller, although hard at first to use I might add, had that analog stick in the centre and created a new way to control games.

I'm not saying that Sony copied off that, I won't get into that debate, however I just wanted to point out that even if the Wii-Remote isn't 100% what everyone is hoping, that the technology used will be a landmark in how that technology is advanced in the years to come.

Its this sort of innovation from Nintendo that will ensure they won't go the way of Sega (an unfortunate occurrence) and become a third-party publisher.

plufim

6 years ago

"Nev, the PS3 controller cannot detect any positional movement, only tilting. It's basically just Kirby's Tilt n Tumble. It cannot tell if you push it forward, up, down, anything. It can only tell if you tip it. Forget about what mqphu1 posted, it's literally copied from a Sony press release and is just PR garbage. "

Just a note re: the PS3 controller, it does a little more then "tilt n' tumble" did, it also has an accelerometer, which means it can also tell if you flick it vertically. It doesn't have any positional detection, thoguh, so if you lift the controller and hold it, the PS3 only detects that acceleration. The wii detects that it is still being held a given distance higher then it was. You can see this in motion in the sony conference, where he flicks the controller upwards and a duck is flicked up in the bath and then lands back. It didn't look particalarly intuitive though, unlike the simpler tilting. Like Nev said, it's basically the same as the nun-chuck.

"A Star Wars game where you can use the remote as a lightsaber sounds awesome... But (and this is the kicker) we have yet to see any evidence that this kind of thing is even possible."

Warioware pretty much shows everything that can be done, and yeah - the lightsaber thing would be easy.

Not really sure why Ubisoft did what they did.

Jfazau

6 years ago

David wrote

True to some extent Obs - but you may have noted that I went on record as saying I didn't like the stick placement on the classic controller either. I do prefer Nintendo's games, but that stays out of my reporting on this site (as much as is possible).

However, I think the Sony bashing is semi-valid in this topic for two reaons:

1)They clearly copied Nintendo's original idea, and pretended (the the press conference) that it was their idea

2)The implementation and tech are clearly not as good, yet they're pretending that they are.

Can we agree on those two points?

Spot on David. And mqphu1, are you paying David to write these articles?
No, i thought not. So unless you think you could be a better writer, then lay off. [/Rant]

realitybites

6 years ago

Well this site is very Nintendo friendly guys.

Look Nintendo did a great job at E3 (I'm still not convinced its going to sell well at all) BUT they have to convince the public they are a creditable alternative. Winning E3 doesn't make you a financial success. Sales creates that.

In Europe and Australia they have treated GC/N64 owners with a fair amount of contempt and second class citizens. I'm still a tad bitter and twisted about the GC and similarly but to a lesser degree the N64 (especially towards the end of its life cycle).

PS2 owners are just as parochial and would buy a PS3 just to have FF XIII. So its not all easy pickings. Eye of Judgement looks very promising indeed.

Xbox 360 is picking up steam as production finally ramps up for the demand. They have a good solid line up and when Halo 3 hits it will be "pedal to the metal" stuff.

MS and Sony are going to blast Nintendo about not being hi def and that could be Nintendo's achilles heel. Also will "Joe Public" be comfortable with this Wii controller instead of the traditional approach. How is multiplayer gaming going to be if everybody stands up in the same room and waves their hands about? Don't believe this pandering about Wii as a second console. If I were Nintendo I would take that as an insult. There is no way MS/Sony want the consumer spending any money on games and hardware outside their respective companies.

On the subject of Wii content I thought Red Steel was very so so and there are a good bunch of FPS miles ahead that interest me more on consoles F.E.A.R, Prey, Resistance, even Halo 3 and the list is long.

David

6 years ago

realitybites wrote

Look Nintendo did a great job at E3 (I'm still not convinced its going to sell well at all) BUT they have to convince the public they are a creditable alternative. Winning E3 doesn't make you a financial success. Sales creates that.

This is true. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Quote

In Europe and Australia they have treated GC/N64 owners with a fair amount of contempt and second class citizens. I'm still a tad bitter and twisted about the GC and similarly but to a lesser degree the N64 (especially towards the end of its life cycle).

I hear this a lot, but how exactly? Not advertising is hardly treating your existing customers badly, and it's not their fault if EBs don't give them shelf space or order stock in.

If you mean release delays, then MS is certainly better, but Nintendo is at least on par with Sony. Metal Gear Solid 1 -3, SoTC, Psychnaughts for example were each delayed for months and missed their respective christmases, and there are a lot more PS2 games that don't make it here then GCN games - Katamari 1, for example.

ObsoletE

6 years ago

David wrote

yeah i was thinking afterwards that you did follow through with your opinion here, but you were one of the few. (i think i made mention of it on that thread too.) i don't mind people having that opinion, what annoyed me was how it applied to one company, but not the other. wouldn't have mattered which companies were involved. (saying they hate the sticks on Gamecude, but love the XBox also irks me).

i agree somewhat with your points, however:
1) i do see that this is probably the case, but we can't REALLY know for sure. it is POSSIBLE that Sony ripped off the Sidewinder controller while they were embroiled in that lawsuit, and it was merely coincidence. unlikely i'll agree, but possible.

2) different techs though, and personally i haven't seen anyone actually from Sony saying they're similar, just reporters and commentators making the comparison (which is obvious). then again, i'm not a reporter so it's entirely possible i missed the sound-grab/quote of Mr. Sony saying "our controller is the wii-mote, but better."
at the moment i do think the wii-mote is the more interesting of the two, but we still need to see what people come up with from a developer standpoint. so far it seems like the wii-mote is used for Sword games, shooting games and sports games.
to be fair though, what have we seen on the PS3 controller?
...
exactly.

Infested Jibbs

6 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

but he does have somewhat of a point, this forum IS mostly Nintendo fans first, other consoles second (not necessarily fanboys, usually hateboys, imo).

at least be consistant with your opinions.

Um, we are.Remember a lil issue about the Wii's name.Sounds to me if us nintendo fanboys(hateboys if you will) weren't consistent with our sledging, we would have sung the praises about the the new name, no matter what it was.There are nintendo fanboys on this board, but they do not follow nintendo's doctrine unwaveringly and zealously attack other console for any move they make.We attack any of the 3 whenever they make a stupid, idiotic decision, regardless of who they are.

The past has shown if any of the three make a stupid move, the nintendo 'hateboys' will bag them out, even if the company is nintendo.Any nintendo fanboy here will gladly admit nintendo has made alot of dumbass mistakes in it's time, the ds wi-fi is undercooked, the on-board storage capabilites of the wii are lacklustre and it's omission of HD wasn't thought through properly.

But in this situation, at this years e3, the idiot in question just happens to be Sony.

They *do* have a mammoth, **** grill looking console.They *do* have a controller which hasn't evolved at all ergonomically in the past 8 years.They *do* have a controller that has blatantly ripped off another companies idea(and no, just because every other company in the business world does it, doesnt make it right, and certainly not ethical).They *do* have an extemly dear launch price.

Should we not pay them out for making such dumbass decisions, for fear of being branded a nintendo hateboy?Apparently so.

In fact i'll think you'll find the only non-sensical fanboys on this board are those who are trying to defend Sony against all the criticism it is being dished out to them atm.To me that speaks volumes, to me THAT is a true fanboy at work, this blind passion burning in them, refusing to admit that said loved company can do no wrong and if another doesn't see this point of view they MUST be a nintendo/ms hateboy.

Two sides to the coin.I am not a Sony hater.I am a dumbass decision-maker hater.

ObsoletE wrote

Jibbs: imo, the eye-damage thing was/is a valid question. he didn't know how the works, and therefore the question was asked. and despite this, you've chosen to go off at him.

I never 'went off at him', i payed him out.There is a difference.Everyone pays everyone else out on this board, but rarely do people 'go off' at one another.

For a facial recognition expert, who is a researcher studying robotics(his words not mine) that sounds like a pretty dumbass question to me.What company, in their right mind, would release a sensor that emits laser beams and x-rays and gmma rays and kryptonite into the eys of the consumer?

If he can ask a question(which i thought was first a joke) as dumb as that, can i ask if the wii light gun can be loaded with 9mm rounds?I'm afraid if this add-on can be loaded with standard 9mm pistol rounds someone in my family could get hurt!111!

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer

DancesInUnderwear

6 years ago

Jibbs wrote

and kryptonite into the eys of the consumer?

Lex Luther Industries?

Yep, boom boom tish, try the veal, etc, etc.

themak

6 years ago

The Wii remote will probably use infra-red.

FACT:
Infra-red *can* be dangerous.

But the really small amount of ir used by the wiimote won't do any damage.

sonicwired

6 years ago

--alex-- wrote

The Wii remote will probably use infra-red.

There has been mention that the Wii remote does indeed use Infra-red but in reverse, so the sensor bar is sending out a signal that the remote is receiving.

Joseph

6 years ago

Okay, all of this "tec" talk is confusing me.

Can someone please explain, in ENGLISH, how the Wii controller works?

Also, can we all please drop the subject on how Sony 'stole' the Wii controller idea? It's been talked about enough. Lets move on from it. We all know the Wii controller is better in terms of motion detecting. the PS3 controller will be used for DIFFERENT purposes. What they are is yet to be seen, but will be heard of in the near future.

sonicwired

6 years ago

This is my theory on how the controller works...

The sensor bar sends out an infra-red signal which the remote 'catches' and reflects back allowing the Wii to work out where the remote is and how it is moving. I guess that each remote in use sends back a unique signal saying which remote it is.

All other functions travel from the remote to the Wii via a bluetooth connection, including the classic pad.

Joseph

6 years ago

Cheers. That's interesting. ( even though it sounds like it, please note that I am NOT being sarcastic)

Cerebral

6 years ago

Hell this is just far too confusing.

As long as it works (check) and has a reasonable about of sensitivity options, I'm not fussed. Nintendo's R&D lab didn't get paid for doing nothing (unlike their Australian marketing divison) during the Wii development process, let's give them a little credit.

NismoR34

6 years ago

It is amazing at how far discussion can go (on a whole range of different subjects) just from one Nintendo dude being interviewed.

~DESTROY~

6 years ago

Jibbs wrote

Man, damage the eyes mqphu1?

Your the one damaging my eyes, cause every time you type, i roll mine, which can't be good 20-30 times a day.

\/

Praise that Brother

~DESTROY~

6 years ago

TWO WORDS: PS3 Slimline!

Yea Sorry Guy, Its like I get carried away in the heat of the moment.
ill make sure I edit post instead of double now, but what can I say sh!t happenss Huh:P

And the slimline comment, Doesnt the PS3 look like a round faced "big box" PS2?
So How long before they write the V.1 off for a slimline ver.?

NismoR34

6 years ago

Why do you double post with everything you say in a thread?

Frozencry

6 years ago

^Because he doesn't know what edit means perhaps?

Just a thought

realitybites

6 years ago

Yeah its a whole bunch of reasons from delayed releases (either intentional like TP or unintentional), the constant mantra its about quality of the games when Mario Sunshine was not really good (they even admitted that later), lack of marketing = lack of sales = no shelf space = pre-ordering games at full price = lack of consumer power, lack of 3rd party support which = no variety, tired of their lack of support towards the end of the console life cycles (TP is another fine example), 1st party games are getting tiresome there is no vitality in them anymore and I just have a real downer on Nintendo in the home market.

The DS is a different story and I often have to pinch myself to believe its the same company.

Maybe if Wii is successful in a couple of years and I can see the market acceptance and Nintendo's commitment is there. I will possibly get the Wii console. They have to win my support back I'm afraid. There is no "blind faith" purchasing of Nintendo home products anymore.

chriharr

6 years ago

Look the PS3 has failed in my opinion after watching the E3 Press conference live, i think it's safe to say sony have made a multi=million dollar mistake releasing the PS3, i think they should have held it back a few more years and re thought their plan, i mean blueray is just stupid

who wants to pay $150.00 for a Game, Not Me

Nintendo has already got second place in the next gen consoles war!!!

Nintendo have finally used their brains, man they are smart Mfkers this time round, ofcourse the 360 will stay in the lead as it has been available on the market for months before its competitors, but anyway!!!

DancesInUnderwear

6 years ago

chriharr wrote

Nintendo has already got second place in the next gen consoles war!!!

Wow, you can see the future? How about sending me next week's powerball numbers? Thanks.

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