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[ggx2ac]

Why? the dude's resume is pure business, isn't it? Is it normal to just throw on the CEO's name as a game's EP?

Uhh... Yes.

Satoru Iwata and Hiroshi Yamauchi were always listed as executive producer for Nintendo games when they were president and CEO.

 

[fredrancour]

Uhh... Yes.

Satoru Iwata and Hiroshi Yamauchi were always listed as executive producer for Nintendo games when they were president and CEO.

i guess i was first consciously aware of game credits during the iwata era, and didn't think it weird because he started out as a dev/ designer.

 

[ggx2ac]

i guess i was first consciously aware of game credits during the iwata era, and didn't think it weird because he started out as a dev/ designer.

Executive producers mainly enable a project to occur. They're not known to be hands-on with the project, otherwise we would have heard about Hiroshi Yamauchi being hands-on with the hundreds of Nintendo games that credit him as executive producer.

 

[Mutant]

Wave Race 64 was such an amazing game.

Dang right it was.

 

[Jubenhimer]

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm? We know next to nothing about the online features of the Switch just 3 weeks from release. What about that is clear?

It's the same old Nintendo. Only this time they have taken some tips from Sony and MS and implemented a paywall. This could be the beginning of them adopting more anti consumer practices from their competitors.

Actually, he's right. If you pay real close attention to Nintendo's actions with the Switch, there's definitely a change in the company's overall strategy, style, and attitude. However, if you think Nintendo was just going radically change their entire creative and philosophical ethos with the Switch, then that's very delusional. In many ways, this is a new Nintendo, but the company's entire creative ethos and ideologies are something that will never change.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Executive producers mainly enable a project to occur. They're not known to be hands-on with the project, otherwise we would have heard about Hiroshi Yamauchi being hands-on with the hundreds of Nintendo games that credit him as executive producer.

True but based on what we know about Iwata he probably was hands-on more often than not.

 

[Inspectah_Deck]

Trivia: The two executive producers for Fire Emblem Heroes are the president of Intelligent Systems and Shinya Takahashi.

You'd have thought Kimishima would have been the Nintendo executive producer.

Don´t lnow why it´s so with FE: Heroes, but in Paper Mario: Color Splash Kimishima gets credited as executive producer.

 

[brad-t]

Because one is seen as a handheld first, and one is seen as a console first. I'm not just inventing this concept, Nintendo has specifically stated that they want it viewed as a console first and foremost which is why every piece of marketing and advertising has shown it docked to begin with and then, holy shit! the player takes it out and keeps playing it. Showing it as a handheld that can plug into a TV doesn't carry the same weight to it as showing a full console that you can take with you. It might be semantics, I know, but it's Nintendo's own language in the first place. If they hadn't been so adamant about the message since the reveal I wouldn't be making these comments, it's just something that's surprised me with the Super Bowl ad and now this article because it's the opposite of what Nintendo seemed to want people to see the system as.

Someone else posted in another thread that the marketers listened to feedback on the other Switch videos and people said they wanted to see it being used around the house rather than outside or traveling, which is why the Super Bowl ad exists, I just don't see why they didn't begin with it docked first since you lose that "ahah!" moment when the player takes the tablet out of the dock.

Yeah, I get and understand all that, I just don't think that this messaging conflicts. When Nintendo says "home console" I don't think they mean TV console. The positioning around the ad is that it's similar to a tablet you would use around your home, rather than a dinky 3DS-like object. It's subtle, but I do think even when in its portable form Nintendo is clearly messaging it as a home console, like the Time excerpt indicates. (It's also easier narratively to go from waking up in bed -> kitchen -> living room, I guess!)

Plus I think regardless of how Nintendo presents it, it's going to be perceived as a portable device that docks into a TV because that's what it is. It just doesn't fit neatly into the console/handheld dichotomy that everyone is used to. Also, this is kinda how Nintendo themselves describe it on their own site:

Nintendo Switch is designed to go wherever you do, transforming from home console to portable system in a snap. Dock your Nintendo Switch and play in HD. Heading out? Take your game with you in handheld mode.

Just changing the order in which that's said or shown doesn't change what it is.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

The portable home console is crucial to their marketing, because of the system's highly promoted table top and same screen multiplayer feature. The hardware is essentially 3 things:

• Home Console (tv mode)
• Portable Console (table top mode)
• Handheld (full portable mode)

One of the three form factors is a pure handheld, but the over-sized handheld may not be the key selling point against the 3DS at this point.

 

[WordAssassin]

Yeah, I get and understand all that, I just don't think that this messaging conflicts. When Nintendo says "home console" I don't think they mean TV console. The positioning around the ad is that it's similar to a tablet you would use around your home, rather than a dinky 3DS-like object. It's subtle, but I do think even when in its portable form Nintendo is clearly messaging it as a home console, like the Time excerpt indicates. (It's also easier narratively to go from waking up in bed -> kitchen -> living room, I guess!)

Plus I think regardless of how Nintendo presents it, it's going to be perceived as a portable device that docks into a TV because that's what it is. It just doesn't fit neatly into the console/handheld dichotomy that everyone is used to. Also, this is kinda how Nintendo themselves describe it on their own site:


Just changing the order in which that's said or shown doesn't change what it is.

I know it doesn't change what it is, but the thing is, Nintendo specifically said it in that order for a reason. Look, we [GAF] all know that the Switch is a handheld you plug into a TV. That's literally what it is, a tablet you set in a dock to play games on a TV. But Nintendo doesn't want to sell it that way. So they specifically say things like "portable console" and "handheld mode" for a reason. And again, if they hadn't been so totally adamant about it across marketing, interviews, etc I wouldn't even be making the observation.

It's not some accident they specify it as a portable console with a handheld mode, and not a handheld with a TV mode. It's not like they'd just list those things interchangeably willy-nilly. They've been very clear right up until the Zelda commercial that Switch is meant to be seen as a console first and foremost that you can take with you. I don't know if it will actually affect the messaging to the general audience, or if it'll somehow hurt them in the long run, I'm just surprised that 1) they've been pushing the "portable console" line only to release a commercial that shows it as a dockable handheld and 2) in doing so left out the coolest a-hah feature of the system in the ad that they ran in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl and what likely acted as an introduction to the Switch to millions.

I mean, c'mon, it's a super cool moment when you have no idea what the Switch is, you see someone playing Zelda and see this grey box on their mantle, then they walk up to the box and holy shit what's that they're pulling a screen out of the box and the controllers slide into it and now it's a handheld omgwtfbbq!!? Seeing someone playing a "GameBoy" and then sitting it in a dock and seeing the GameBoy game on the TV doesn't have nearly the same punch. I know they did it this way because of marketing research but I can't help but notice/be confused at how it goes against their previous messaging, and wonder if there was a better way to appease their market research while still conveying it as a console first with that wow moment. The kid coulda had a TV in his room and the JoyCons sitting on his bedside table, then he gets up to get food and pulls the Switch out of the Dock to take it with him while he cooks or something, I dunno.