Nintendo has made it official, Wii U games will be on a proprietary disc that is not Blu-ray or DVD.
The confirmation comes via Nintendo president Satoru Iwata following a week of confusion and speculation as to exactly what Wii U games would be published on.
In explaining the move, Iwata says:
We feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn’t warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies.
Furthermore, the Wii U will go “social,” says Iwata (via TR):
After examining the penetration and adoption rate of social networking services like Facebook, etc, we’ve come to the conclusion that we are no longer in a period where we cannot have any connection at all with social networking services.
Rather, I think we’ve come to an era where it’s important to consider how the social graph of the social networking services can work in conjunction with something like a video game platform.
Result for: nintendo president
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has taken a starkly different stance than others in his industry when asked about slowing software sales, citing lack of innovation instead of piracy as the main cause.
The executive was posed the question during a call about the company’s revised financial forecast, which was revised to the downside thanks to slow software sales on both the DS and Wii.
Both consoles have just about hit saturation on the global scale.
Singling out an individual game, Iwata says innovative hits like “Art Academy” have sold well everywhere, including in nations where piracy has ravaged sales.
One such country is Spain, which is infamous for piracy levels that far exceed other Western European neighbors.
“Nintendo DS software could not make it to the hit software sales chart in the country for sometime,” Iwata said, via GI. “However, when we launched the Nintendo DS software Art Academy in Europe this summer, which shows you how to draw pictures, it was ranked number one on the software sales chart covering all the videogame platforms in Spain. If one software can attract many people and can become a social topic, that software can sell regardless of piracy.”
Of course, Iwata made sure to make it clear that piracy is indeed a problem, just not the biggest problem.
“As a responsibility of the platform holder, we will tackle piracy. For example, when we launch new hardware, such as Nintendo 3DS, it is a good opportunity to beef up the countermeasures, and we are actually working on that now. On the other hand, I do not think we should attribute bad software sales solely to piracy. Even with piracy, as long as we can create products which can attract attention from many consumers and which can greatly entertain them, that software can make it to the number one position of the hit software sales chart, “ he concluded.
Result for: nintendo president
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has given his response to last week’s iPad unveiling, calling the device “a bigger iPod Touch,” with “no surprises.”
Additionally, Iwata denied rumors that Nintendo was working on an HD-enabled Wii and a DS with motion control. “I question whether those features would be enough to get people to buy new machines,” he concluded.
Iwata also took a swing at 3D gaming, admitting he does not believe it will catch on, despite the success of films such as Avatar. “I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home. How is that going to look to other people?” he adds.
So far the main concerns critics have had of the iPad is the lack of multitasking, the continued lack of Flash-support, and lack of USB ports.
