Nintendo’s iwata on Hardcore Gamers, 2nd Life and More

Nintendo has recently posted an English translation of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata’s Q&A session with some Nintendo investors. In the course of the transcript Iwata comments that Nintendo is aware of the desires and demands of the ‘hard-core’ audience. According to Iwata, “[Concerning] when we will fulfill the hard-core gamers’ titles lineup: It will be from around the end of this summer to the end of this year. We will then launch a new title of Super Mario (Super Mario Galaxy), Smash Brothers (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) and Metroid Prime (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption)”

Iwata also makes some other interesting remarks on the pre launch hype of the Wii “Wii unfortunately did not receive as much positive anticipation as we had hoped it would before the launch. Accordingly, Nintendo had to rely upon its first-party titles to create the momentum.” I’d say mission accomplished on that front. However, Wii Sports and Zelda were a huge hit on launch but Nintendo definitely needs to keep the hits rolling now that they’ve created their momentum.

He gave a rather flat evaluation of the MMO phenomenon that is Second Life, stating; “I personally have virtually no interest in Second Life.” So MMO fans and online players still have some cause for concern if Wii is their console of choice. I’m really disappointed in the online initiatives (or lack thereof) coming from the Wii. With the Nintendo WiFi capability of the DS, I was really optimistic and hoping I’d be able to use the Wii to play Madden with my out of state brother this year… Looks like I might have to buck up and buy a 360 to scratch that itch though.

On the concept of expanding game offerings to mobile devices, he also seemed less then enthused about the concept saying; “If we conducted only the software business on someone else’s hardware, we might be able to have some decent success. However, doing so would be like throwing away one of our strengths. So, rather than looking for a small increase in our revenue for the short term by licensing our products to other platforms, I believe it is more important for us to realize what we can do only with our own platforms, which no other machines can offer.”

When asked directly if he thought Nintendo would headhunt the soon-to-be retired Kutaragi from Sony, Iwata offered the straightforward response of “I don’t think we will do that.” Of course, I don’t think so, is a little different from a plain ‘no’ so, I don’t know if that rumor can be laid to rest just yet.

There was plenty more said — it’s a 5 page document.  You can see it all for yourself on Nintendo’s site.