*yawn*
on the line, starting in about ten minutes. will edit this post with new info.
Update 1, with paraphrases:
perrin kaplan: "since e3 we've been quiet, that ends today."
reggie: "let me be first to say I've been waiting for this opportunity to share DS news for a while"
"let me recount why this is important for nintendo and industry: ds is not about what you play, it's about how you play. developers are 'completely stoked'. has seen what they are working on, it's innovative."
"obvious question first: nov. 21st. it's launching in U.S. first because of thanksgiving weekend. japan date is dec. 2nd."
"price: mentions 'some retailers' listing pre-order price at 199.99, they were wrong. $149.99. anyone who wants a DS will find it affordable and available"
"more details on launch software and software pricing available in near future"
"more than 120 games in development for DS"
"start outreach to older demographic (than GBA owner)"
"playable demo version of metroid prime hunters: first hunt, abbreviated version of MP: Hunter"
"demo will be wireless multiplayer enabled, up to 4 DS owners can play out of the box"
UPDATE 2, george harrison, marketing:
"since e3, ds buzz has been positive. demand's not gonna be a problem. previously announed 3.5 million worldwide shipped to retail by march '05. updated: will ship 4 million worldwide (maybe more) by end of fiscal year."
"launch budget will be biggest of any console or handheld nintendo has ever launched. $40 million to launch."
"media plan: print, TV, cinema, outdoor, 12,000 interactive retail kiosks. hands-on time is critical to appreciate DS features"
BACK TO REGGIE, closing comments
"aggressively launching DS with largest support NOA has ever put behind a product launch"
"different demographic and 'psychographic' (?) than the GBA"
"will share software details at later date, but every significant worldwide developer is working on a DS game"
Q&A
q: dean takahashi - europe launch date
reggie: no euro/australia date. will happen in fiscal Q4. more info coming later.
q: chris kohler - more details on first hunt...is it the demo version at E3, or beyond?
reggie: hi this is reggie. first hunt is different than E3 version. improved 'playability', done different things from control point, media will have hands-on the first week in october at gamer's summit in seattle (ed. - woot!). has changed for the better from playability standpoint.
q: ??? - how will 4 million units be distributed?
george: can't say details, historically 50% of worldwide is NOA, and we'll have plenty for all
q: bryan intihar - any new colors aside from silver-black?
george: at launch, just the black-silver unit. can't talk about the future, but fashion is one part of portable electronics we'll keep in mind as a marketing tool.
q: stuart someone or other - general launch question
george: eb and gamestop essentially put all our product demos for sale on their sites, and those experiences were all meant to be demos and not full games. just as our retailers were purely speculating on what our retail price would be, all the titles you are seeing for sale online are all speculation at this point. we will be sharing with media and analysts our software launch standpoint, as well as all the key titles support we'll have into January 2005
follow-up q: are all the games taking advantage of DS functionality?
reggie: everything I've seen (all 120+) games take adantage of the ds functionality
q: pj mcneely - any software shipping # expectations
reggie: we'll deal with that in early october
follow-up: any comments on battery life? other multimedia functionality?
reggie: we estimate 6-10 hours which is 'very very strong'. functionality: we are launching a dedicated gaming device, and that will continue to be our strategy. can we envision other elements down the road, certainly.
follow-up: are you surprised by lack of PSP news over the night, and what are your expectations for their timeframe?
reggie: what has transpired overnight has not surprised us. there's a lack of PSP information in general while they deal with their challenges (battery life).
q: chris morris - the cartridges for DS...will they hold more 'material' than the GBA cartridges
a: are you talking about the DS-specific medium
q: yes
a: yeah, we've already said that that media can hold a gigabit of data, which is significantly more than a GBA cart.
follow-up: of the 120 being developed, how many in-house?
a: about 20 in-house.
q: edward something or other - reggie, what do you think of dev costs for DS compared to GBA, and the differences in the business models for the publishers and royalty rates, manufacturing lead times
george: dev costs, we don't expect them to be significantly greater than a current GBA game. have improved margins for licensing for GBA, and it's even better for DS. initially will be manufactured in asia, turnaround time similar to GBA carts. as we get up to speed, will likely start manufacturing in U.S.
q - retailer strategy?
reggie - we'll have strong presence all over. broad-scale access by consumer to have hands-on experience with the DS. in addition, we'll be supporting all of our customers (retail) with adequate supply.
q - shawn mcgowan - nature of first-party games, any franchises developed specially for DS?
reggie - october! (ed. - duh)
q - johnathan something - how are you going to have consumers familiar with DS outside of retail scene. anything like cube club?
george - starting on nintendo fusion tour, info videos and hardware samples will be there. as soon as software is completed, those demos will be out there as well. largest number of people will have access at stores (stores will have multiple units to demo the wireless play). also, nintendo street team.
q - david leibowitz - have you announced price of software?
reggie - october (ed. - THEY'VE ALREADY SAID THIS)
follow-up q - another software question
reggie - OCTOBER (ed. - AUUUUGHHHH)
follow-up q - licensing details
george - we've shared this with licensees...
follow-up q - what's the developer break-even point
reggie - it's a developer-specific question. nintendo is making dev kits available at very low, sometimes no cost. some tools are free to devs if they sign confidentiality agreements. this is driving significant interest among some developers who have not previously worked with handhelds. including some wireless developers.
follow-up q - in terms of wireless, what is nintendo doing to promote wireless as an activity
reggie - from a wireless perspective, we've made two strong statements with how we plan to promote wireless. picto-chat and metroid prime hunters: first hunt pack-in
q - chris kohler - it's possible for DS to recognize GBA games. any plans to have GBA titles that have some DS functionality built-in?
reggie - all historical GBA games will be able to play in single-player mode in the DS. no features or unlockable thing that will happen. in the future, there are a lot of opportunities in the future for this sort of thing. nothing planned right now that takes advantage of that
q - mike wallace - he got here late, asking a question about worldwide shipments. also a question about where manufacturing is happening and turn-around time that's already been asked.
george - yo, we already answered this. <gives recap>
follow-up q: no component issues?
george - nope. production has started, going smoothly, can possibly make more.
q - DFS - backwards compatibility. GBC and original GB titles, or just GBA games?
reggie - only gba.
q - skip - reggie, will you make me some pancakes for getting me up so early?*
reggie - <writes down name>
fin
*not acutally asked
on the line, starting in about ten minutes. will edit this post with new info.
Update 1, with paraphrases:
perrin kaplan: "since e3 we've been quiet, that ends today."
reggie: "let me be first to say I've been waiting for this opportunity to share DS news for a while"
"let me recount why this is important for nintendo and industry: ds is not about what you play, it's about how you play. developers are 'completely stoked'. has seen what they are working on, it's innovative."
"obvious question first: nov. 21st. it's launching in U.S. first because of thanksgiving weekend. japan date is dec. 2nd."
"price: mentions 'some retailers' listing pre-order price at 199.99, they were wrong. $149.99. anyone who wants a DS will find it affordable and available"
"more details on launch software and software pricing available in near future"
"more than 120 games in development for DS"
"start outreach to older demographic (than GBA owner)"
"playable demo version of metroid prime hunters: first hunt, abbreviated version of MP: Hunter"
"demo will be wireless multiplayer enabled, up to 4 DS owners can play out of the box"
UPDATE 2, george harrison, marketing:
"since e3, ds buzz has been positive. demand's not gonna be a problem. previously announed 3.5 million worldwide shipped to retail by march '05. updated: will ship 4 million worldwide (maybe more) by end of fiscal year."
"launch budget will be biggest of any console or handheld nintendo has ever launched. $40 million to launch."
"media plan: print, TV, cinema, outdoor, 12,000 interactive retail kiosks. hands-on time is critical to appreciate DS features"
BACK TO REGGIE, closing comments
"aggressively launching DS with largest support NOA has ever put behind a product launch"
"different demographic and 'psychographic' (?) than the GBA"
"will share software details at later date, but every significant worldwide developer is working on a DS game"
Q&A
q: dean takahashi - europe launch date
reggie: no euro/australia date. will happen in fiscal Q4. more info coming later.
q: chris kohler - more details on first hunt...is it the demo version at E3, or beyond?
reggie: hi this is reggie. first hunt is different than E3 version. improved 'playability', done different things from control point, media will have hands-on the first week in october at gamer's summit in seattle (ed. - woot!). has changed for the better from playability standpoint.
q: ??? - how will 4 million units be distributed?
george: can't say details, historically 50% of worldwide is NOA, and we'll have plenty for all
q: bryan intihar - any new colors aside from silver-black?
george: at launch, just the black-silver unit. can't talk about the future, but fashion is one part of portable electronics we'll keep in mind as a marketing tool.
q: stuart someone or other - general launch question
george: eb and gamestop essentially put all our product demos for sale on their sites, and those experiences were all meant to be demos and not full games. just as our retailers were purely speculating on what our retail price would be, all the titles you are seeing for sale online are all speculation at this point. we will be sharing with media and analysts our software launch standpoint, as well as all the key titles support we'll have into January 2005
follow-up q: are all the games taking advantage of DS functionality?
reggie: everything I've seen (all 120+) games take adantage of the ds functionality
q: pj mcneely - any software shipping # expectations
reggie: we'll deal with that in early october
follow-up: any comments on battery life? other multimedia functionality?
reggie: we estimate 6-10 hours which is 'very very strong'. functionality: we are launching a dedicated gaming device, and that will continue to be our strategy. can we envision other elements down the road, certainly.
follow-up: are you surprised by lack of PSP news over the night, and what are your expectations for their timeframe?
reggie: what has transpired overnight has not surprised us. there's a lack of PSP information in general while they deal with their challenges (battery life).
q: chris morris - the cartridges for DS...will they hold more 'material' than the GBA cartridges
a: are you talking about the DS-specific medium
q: yes
a: yeah, we've already said that that media can hold a gigabit of data, which is significantly more than a GBA cart.
follow-up: of the 120 being developed, how many in-house?
a: about 20 in-house.
q: edward something or other - reggie, what do you think of dev costs for DS compared to GBA, and the differences in the business models for the publishers and royalty rates, manufacturing lead times
george: dev costs, we don't expect them to be significantly greater than a current GBA game. have improved margins for licensing for GBA, and it's even better for DS. initially will be manufactured in asia, turnaround time similar to GBA carts. as we get up to speed, will likely start manufacturing in U.S.
q - retailer strategy?
reggie - we'll have strong presence all over. broad-scale access by consumer to have hands-on experience with the DS. in addition, we'll be supporting all of our customers (retail) with adequate supply.
q - shawn mcgowan - nature of first-party games, any franchises developed specially for DS?
reggie - october! (ed. - duh)
q - johnathan something - how are you going to have consumers familiar with DS outside of retail scene. anything like cube club?
george - starting on nintendo fusion tour, info videos and hardware samples will be there. as soon as software is completed, those demos will be out there as well. largest number of people will have access at stores (stores will have multiple units to demo the wireless play). also, nintendo street team.
q - david leibowitz - have you announced price of software?
reggie - october (ed. - THEY'VE ALREADY SAID THIS)
follow-up q - another software question
reggie - OCTOBER (ed. - AUUUUGHHHH)
follow-up q - licensing details
george - we've shared this with licensees...
follow-up q - what's the developer break-even point
reggie - it's a developer-specific question. nintendo is making dev kits available at very low, sometimes no cost. some tools are free to devs if they sign confidentiality agreements. this is driving significant interest among some developers who have not previously worked with handhelds. including some wireless developers.
follow-up q - in terms of wireless, what is nintendo doing to promote wireless as an activity
reggie - from a wireless perspective, we've made two strong statements with how we plan to promote wireless. picto-chat and metroid prime hunters: first hunt pack-in
q - chris kohler - it's possible for DS to recognize GBA games. any plans to have GBA titles that have some DS functionality built-in?
reggie - all historical GBA games will be able to play in single-player mode in the DS. no features or unlockable thing that will happen. in the future, there are a lot of opportunities in the future for this sort of thing. nothing planned right now that takes advantage of that
q - mike wallace - he got here late, asking a question about worldwide shipments. also a question about where manufacturing is happening and turn-around time that's already been asked.
george - yo, we already answered this. <gives recap>
follow-up q: no component issues?
george - nope. production has started, going smoothly, can possibly make more.
q - DFS - backwards compatibility. GBC and original GB titles, or just GBA games?
reggie - only gba.
q - skip - reggie, will you make me some pancakes for getting me up so early?*
reggie - <writes down name>
fin
*not acutally asked
