I'd tell you, but then this thread would degrade into a spam-fest real fast. Besides, it's a secret.
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I'm going to start a random rant:
Going back to GDC-related discussion, last week Iwata, the current President of Nintendo, had presented a thirty-minute long keynote regarding Nintendo's current stance on the industry. It was during that keynote that the new Zelda trailer was revealed, a demo of the upcoming Nintendogs was shown, and eight lucky people got to play Mario Kart DS wirelessly for the first time.
But regarding the keynote itself, Iwata's stance is that the current direction the videogame industry is heading in will lead to an inevitable crash. Look at Sony and Microsoft's upcoming next-gen consoles: Sony will use a cell processor for the PS3, while Microsoft is going all HD-savy. In layman's terms, this means next-gen will all be graphics, graphics, and more graphics. Surely the average consumer would realize when they're playing Halo 5 or Grand Theft Auto: Some Random City that they're playing the exact same thing as they were five years ago, right? That's what Nintendo is trying to prevent from happening. They're pushing innovation, trying to bring new ideas into the industry. They really are trying to do what the ipod did to the CD player industry. Most importantly, Iwata wants to bring new gamers into the mix. I think his most powerful statement is right here:
As we spend more time and money chasing exactly the same players, who are we leaving behind? Are we are creating games just for each other? Do you have friends and family members who do not play video games? Well, why dont they? And, I would ask this: How often have you challenged yourself to create a game that you might not play? I think these questions form an important challenge for all of us.
That is Nintendo's target audience. My mom is so incredibly bad at games even Mario Kart is too difficult for her. Yet she has had a lot of fun with Donkey Konga and the Nintendo DS. A lot of my classmates don't play videogames anymore, they seemed to have given up after the N64/PSX generation. Yet I was able to get them hooked onto mere MINIGAMES from Super Mario 64 DS. If Nintendo was not trying out these new things, and decided to pump out sequel after sequel like their competitors, neither my parents nor my non-gamer friends would be interested in the slightest. That's Nintendo's philosphy. Whether it works, that will only be revealed in the future.
After Iwata spoke at the GDC, he received quite a positive response from the developers. George Harrison, VP of marketing and communications of Nintendo fo America, spoke on the issue:
Mr. Iwata comes from such a strong game development background that he feels truly passionate about gaming in a way that makes him unique amongst industry executives. As he said in his keynote speech, he's stayed up all night eating pizza and rice balls while cracking away on the code until the sun came up. You and your readers have known this for a while, but many in the industry did not, so this keynote speech was an excellent opportunity for him to become more intimate with the development community and really show them a little about himself, what drives his passions, and his thoughts about his direction for the company.
He spoke despite being under the weather and suffering from a sore throat, but he felt so strongly about delivering this message at GDC that nothing could have stopped him from taking the stage. He really wanted to have a chance to speak directly to the developers themselves -- the people who fell in love with making games just as he did many years ago. He also rehearsed the entire speech in English countless times to make this message as personal for the U.S. development audience as possible. His goal in sharing this personal background and history was to help this community understand that he and Nintendo will never forget what it is that makes gamers tick -- both casual and hardcore. This message is very important to Nintendo, because he wants the video game industry to continue to mature and flourish with creative gaming ideas.
Once his speech was over, we received many comments from industry professionals and media attendees such as yourself who felt a strong emotional reaction and connection to his message. Hearing this has made Mr. Iwata very grateful for having had the opportunity to speak and make this personal connection with both the industry and gamers everywhere.
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TO SUMMARIZE
If Nintendo fails, prepare for sequel-itis until eventually, years from now, people will realize they're playing the exact same thing as they were ten years ago, and will lead to a videogame crash.
If Nintendo suceeds, prepare to see a Revolution as big as the iPod.
End Rant.
. That great big sucking sound you hear is all the time that I don't have to spare that I spend gaming . . . and coming here . . . which is a result of gaming . . .
